Should BP pay for damage caused by its bad PR?
29 Jul 2010 [1 Comment | 99 views]
Here is your question, or is that questions, of the day: if the spilled oil from BP’s oil rig never actually reaches the Florida coast, but the state tourist industry suffers anyway because of all the publicity, should BP still be held responsible? Supposing BP is cleared of all charges of bad practice, and that [...]
What’s that – good news from the Gulf of Mexico?
28 Jul 2010 [0 Comments | 86 views]
New boss, and already things are looking better at BP. Yesterday, amidst all the bleak talk of its massive loss, some good news was all but missed. In fact, it may have been just about the best bit of news on BP for a very long time. Before we tell you about the good news, [...]
BP losses enter the stratosphere, as failed boss gets payday and eyes look towards Russia and Libya
27 Jul 2010 [1 Comment | 149 views]
And so it was that BP revealed one of the biggest corporate losses in history, fired its boss, and at the same time rewarded him with a bumper pension. Is this another example of reward for failure? Actually, there is more than a touch of irony about how things have turned out with its new, [...]
UK tourist industry set to boom
23 Jul 2010 [0 Comments | 112 views]
Hope has descended upon the UK in the shape of buckets and spades, and stately homes. According to a new report, the UK tourism industry is set to grow by 60 per cent, taking the industry to £188bn in annual revenue. Visit Britain published the report, which was produced by Deloitte and Oxford Economics. The [...]
While techs boom, banks may be returning to crisis
21 Jul 2010 [0 Comments | 138 views]
Technology and demand for the latest products and software could be the founding stone of the next boom. Maybe, then, there is something almost poetic about the way profits seem set to crash at banks. Goldman Sachs saw its net income crash from $3.4bn a year ago, to $613m in the latest quarter. The news [...]
The end of desktops
21 Jul 2010 [0 Comments | 169 views]
A report on CNNMoney asked whether the desktop computer is in its final throes. See: The end of the desktop PC (seriously) The truth is, the iPad is just the latest in a long line of products to take a dent out of the PC’s monopoly. Digital cameras, smart phones, e-readers, and even those electronic [...]
Company results season, wealth creators score hat trick against wealth destroyers
21 Jul 2010 [0 Comments | 429 views]
In some ways the results coming out of Wall Street illustrate the point. The last few days have seen results from Apple, Google, Yahoo and Goldman Sachs. That’s quite a contrast, isn’t it? What have the profits at the world’s most influential, or is that controversial, bank got to do with the news from the [...]
Goldman Sachs gets off with yellow card, as Obama contemplates handing BP red
16 Jul 2010 [0 Comments | 180 views]
According to a famous article in Rolling Stone magazine a couple of years ago: “Goldman Sachs is like a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.” So, there’s another magazine that minces its words. Last night it was revealed that the bank [...]
BP – the bill rises and rises
15 Jun 2010 [0 Comments | 194 views]
Has it struck anyone as odd? For 18 months now, governments have been saving companies from themselves. Banks messed up in about as big a way as you could imagine, and got rescued. Car makers – especially the Detroit Three (GM, Ford and Chrysler) – went through money faster than a Toyota without brakes, while [...]
PetroChina prepares for swoop on BP
10 Jun 2010 [0 Comments | 294 views]
According to a story from Reuters, BP could soon become a subsidiary of the Chinese oil company PetroChina. If the merger goes ahead, the resulting company’s oil and gas reserves would dwarf reserves at Exxon Mobil. Reuters bases its piece on a note from Standard Chartered which said: “With widespread media speculation on a possible [...]
